Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Living Homeless

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” Matthew 16:19.

Years ago when I was helping a family member move from one home to a new one, I was amazed at the dozens of keys they possessed.  These keys were unmarked and whenever one was needed it seemed to take forever to find the one that provided access to that entrance.  When I questioned what they were access to the owner didn’t even know.  Some were keys that remained from things long gone while some were keys to doors where the locks had been changed.  Yet, he hung on to every futile key even though they opened nothing.

In considering this I am amused at how we hang on to things that open nothing in our lives.  We are promised that we need only one set of keys to access the kingdom of God.  Yet, we lug around this keychain filled with futile keys…pursuit of money…pursuit of popularity…pursuit of approval.  We try to force these keys that lead to nowhere trying to access happiness.  When circumstances get dicey we reach for the entangled keys trying one to no avail, only to try another to gain access to peace and resolution.  In this world, apart from God the door to peace will not open...He is the only key.

When will we learn that we can save ourselves undue grief by only reaching for one key to access everything we need…the key that accesses the full abundance of God?  If we are Christians we all have this key, but it will only be dependable if we remove the competing keys from our key ring.  Sadly, many times we fail to realize the power and authority we have to call on God in the name of His Son.  We go through life’s overwhelming circumstances having the ability to get everything we need at all times but fail to use the right key.  In Matthew 16:19, Jesus was telling His disciples that because of their special relationship with the Father, they were being given a set of keys.  As children of God, they now had direct access to God and to His resources’ Experiencing God, p. 192.

Living life without accessing God’s power and provision is like living homeless with a key to a mansion in your pocket. 

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